At the turn of
the 19th century, in an England ruled by Queen Victoria, which was becoming
used to the miracles of technology - the previous year, x-rays were
discovered - a new miracle arose. In 1897, wireless telegraphy, called by
some in the press "nothing more than miraculous" appeared, thanks to the
discoveries and research of Guglielmo Marconi. This technique, which defied
understanding even among the learned, allowed telegraph operators to send
dots and dashes through the ether, at distances of several miles, and
eventually changed the face of technology and society.

The telegraph,
at that time, was already common, and was an important source of news and
exchange. But telegrams had to travel over wires, which is why for a very
long time, even after wireless telegraphy became common, one spoke of
sending "cables". Marconi had made a unique discovery "while experimenting
on his father's estate": he was able to "generate signals which went through
or over hills" though he had no idea how this worked. This was cutting-edge
technology, but, since this was the dawn of science, even amateurs like
Marconi could be players.

Marconi built
on the work of Heinrich Hertz, who had first managed to send waves across
very short distances. What Marconi wanted to achieve was communication with
ships, where it was impossible to use cables. He experimented essentially
through trial and error, piecing together techniques and ideas he read about
in electrical magazines and testing his own ideas. As his technique began to
work, he didn't know how it happened, how the waves actually traveled
through the air, but he refined the devices he used to improve its
efficiency and increase its distance.

But this is
less a story of a discovery than its development and marketing. Coincidence
helped Marconi in this element. His mother, Annie Jameson, who had moved to
Italy to marry Giueseppe Marconi, was Irish, of the Jameson whisky family.
Marconi went to London to show off his discovery and seek investors, and it
was eventually the Jamesons who were responsible for setting up the
well-funded Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company to bring his discovery to
market.

And it was
indeed brought to market. With demonstrations ranging from one with the
royal family to cross-Channel communications performed in front of American
journalists, Marconi's invention became known around the world. In October
1899, Marconi assured his fame in the United States by broadcasting news
from the America's Cup sailing competition. He was able to send news of the
races from a ship to a land-based receiver, providing, for the first time
even, real-time play-by-play of this famous event.

Marconi
continued working on his invention, with the next step being to send
transatlantic signals, a feat he realized in December 1901, from Cornwall to
Newfoundland. Over the years to come, he was able to refine this even more,
turning it into an essential tool for ships at sea, and for others sending
telegrams.

The story that
Gavin Weightman tells here is one of tiny steps, as Marconi moves ahead
slowly, with great humility. This narrative is interesting and well-written,
and gives an excellent feeling of this exciting period when the technologies
that we take for granted were just getting off the ground. Weightman barely
touches on the technical issues, on the science behind wireless, making this
a book that anyone can appreciate. There are no formulae, no schematics,
only an interesting story about an interesting man.

As I sit in my
living room, writing this review on my iBook, which is connected to a
wireless network, I try and imagine how people in the 19th century viewed
such a development, one that seems so small compared to what we have around
us today. Just like many of the building-blocks of today's communication
technology, Marconi's invention was another step forward in the discovery of
techniques that went on to change the world. When Marconi died in 1937,
television broadcasts had been made and radio signals had been sent around
the world. In just a short time, the world had become a global village,
thanks in part to his tenacity and vision.